


Meeting the Kirklands

by gallifreyanlibertea



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Family, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 13:51:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11715696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallifreyanlibertea/pseuds/gallifreyanlibertea
Summary: Alfred underestimated just how bad it would be to meet his boyfriend's family.





	Meeting the Kirklands

**Author's Note:**

> For an anon on tumblr, who requested a fic with Alfred meeting Arthur's overprotective brothers.

Of course, the one he had broken happened to be Allistair Kirkland’s favorite mug.

He remembered it like it was yesterday, the phrase being limited to just that, a phrase, because it happened only half an hour ago. Being surrounded by the harpies that were Arthur’s brothers; three, that with their position seated in a specific order, had a comical coincidence of each of their heads having hair redder than the one that sat to the left of them.

Allistair, hair bright red; Patrick, hair almost orangey; William, strawberry blond.

That, of course, was as far as the comedy had gone that evening because Alfred Jones was positively shaking.

Shaking because  _damn him_  for assuming he wouldn’t be nervous to meet his boyfriend’s family!  _His boyfriend’s family!_  For the first time! It was something he had begged and pleaded Arthur to let him do, only to receive in response something along the lines of- “You wouldn’t want to, love!”

He should’ve listened- along with the fact that he was quite destructive when he felt out of place, as he was sure to feel in a room full of people with funny accents and funnier manners that mirrored the ones in his boyfriend he found so charmingly different.

They weren’t so charming then. Thick, menacingly dark brows. That boiling aura of passive-aggressiveness. Alfred had been nervous to approach Arthur the first time they had met, fingers twitching, dropping anything and everything in his hands- which had then included the books he needed for fourth period- letting the most atrocious things tumble out of his lips.

“Arthur  _Kirkland,_  was it? I buy a lot of Kirkland brand products!”

And now he’d done it again. He’d fucked up, he’d dropped things, said things, and now, as he stood on the porch of Arthur’s doorstep, gazing down at his boyfriend who seemed to be avoiding eye contact, he knew today was the day Arthur Kirkland would finally break up with him.

Needless to say, he’d been expecting it for some time.

“Arthur, babe-?”

Arthur glanced up with an expression all too familiar. One that he would put on when he pretended things were okay, to keep Alfred from having to comfort him. “Sorry, you were saying something?”

“I’m sorry to leave you getting back to fixing that whole mess up.”

“It’s alright.”

Alfred leaned in for a quick peck onto those slightly frowning lips. It was kissing a brick wall, reaching out to the embrace of a ghost, to put it dramatically. To put it simply, Arthur was mad. He had to be, with the way Alfred had handled that night.

He was never meant to meet the Kirklands. He’d never really thought about it before. Although Arthur was, at this point in their month-long relationship, a gem to Alfred and his parents, Arthur made no move to include Alfred in his family.

And Alfred didn’t mind. There could be a million reasons for it, perhaps they weren’t as accepting of Arthur’s sexuality? Perhaps Arthur wasn’t allowed to date? Whatever it was, Alfred had been fine with it. He had let Arthur change the topic every time family came up between them, as long as it kept Arthur happy.

Yet one stupid post later- one stupid picture of the two of them, with Alfred pressing a kiss onto a scowling Arthur’s cheek, posted onto a social media app, and the next day, Arthur had been positively livid.

Because- “My mum’s f _riend’s friend’s friend’s_   _son_  saw it, and now she knows, and now she wants to meet you, Alfred! Doomed! Oh  _god,_  we’re doomed!”

Alfred took a hesitant step down from Arthur’s porch, turning to let Arthur’s name fall from his lips at the same moment Arthur had decided to call for him, hand outstretched.

“Alfred-”

“Yes?” Was Alfred’s almost immediate response.

“I’m sorry about tonight.” Arthur crossed his arms and stepped down to Alfred’s level. “But I can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Arthur  _had_  warned him. Repeatedly.  _“Alfred, my family is_ atrocious _, you do_ not _want to meet them!”_ But if Alfred was anything, he was a family guy, and Arthur knew that.

Which is why he’d let Alfred come over for dinner in the first place, along with the fact that Mrs. Kirkland had apparently made a fuss about inviting him.

“Would you like some casserole?” She’d said to him, only two hours ago, the first dish she’d brought to the table. A sweet woman. “Oh! Oh dear, you aren’t vegetarian, are you? It completely escaped my mind to ask, oh, I’m so dreadfully sorry, dear-”

“No, it’s fine, Mrs. Kirkland, I eat meat.” Alfred had replied with a beaming smile. He’d then turned to Arthur with a fond sigh.  _This isn’t so bad._

Arthur had looked mildly in pain.

Of course, it wasn’t so bad. It hadn’t been until Mrs. Kirkland had parted her lips, tilting her head up to call for her boys, three of which had skittered down the stairs, green eyes burning holes into the new shirt Alfred had bought for the dinner.

“The typical big-brother talk then, huh, babe? I can handle it.” He had whispered with a laugh and Arthur had chewed his lip.

At least now Alfred knew why.

“Your brothers hate me,” Alfred said with a wince and Arthur shuffled his feet.

“They hate everyone I date. Always find something wrong with them.”

And that was where the problem lied.

Because Arthur had said to him a while back, after launching into that self-pitied monologue centered around doom- ”Dinners with my family, they’re the reason I’ve never had many long relationships, Alfred.” 

It could only mean that nights like these were the nights Arthur decided to date or not to date, because who in their right mind would date someone their family so obviously despised?

Alfred had definitely failed that test.

Hell, his nervous, shaking fingers broke half the things he’d touched. He’d managed to elicit a sneer to every question he’d answered-

“A job, no, I don’t have one… Um, no, I don’t get straight A’s…”

And his personal favorite. “Haha, I guess I’m a virgin. That depends on your definition, though.”

Even sweet Mrs. Kirkland had made a face at that one.

“Does this change things, Arthur?” And Arthur looked up at him so fast Alfred was dizzy. Those big green eyes bore into his, and he took another step forward.

“It does, though, doesn’t it?”

Alfred somehow understood.

Arthur was proud. He wanted perfection, he wanted to be- as Alfred would jokingly tell him when the occasion arose- envied.

With a clumsy, dud of a boyfriend like Alfred, one that his family found less than ideal? Alfred could see it coming. A quick break before anything got too serious.

So he didn’t understand why Arthur let his forehead rest on Alfred’s chest, hands fisting the fabric of his shirt.

“Alfred Jones, you are the biggest idiot I’ve ever dated in my entire life.”

“What?”

“You should’ve seen the looks on their faces, my brothers-” A small chuckle and Arthur stretched onto his toes to press a hesitant kiss on Alfred’s jaw. “You’re an idiot.”

“Is this how you normally break up with people?” Alfred said with a small smile and Arthur peeled away, brows drawn together in panic.

“This is us breaking up?”

“Did you see the damage in there?”

The look on Mrs. Kirkland’s face as she swept up the shattered remnants of at least two plates. The look on William’s face when Alfred had unwittingly served a compliment that turned out to be backhanded. The look on Patrick’s face when Alfred had toyed with his foot under the table rather than Arthur’s.

Failed.

“This wasn’t a test,” Arthur said, stepping away to shove his hands in his pockets. “Dinners like these are when boyfriends get spooked by my family, and almost always leave.”

Arthur glanced up to ask the question. “So you’re leaving?”

Alfred loved family.

He loved being a part of something greater, he loved becoming integrated into his boyfriends’ lives when the time came- having a second mother to wrap him in a warm embrace, second brothers, a home,  _which was indeed greater than a house_ , and what was one when you could have two?

What was his when he could have Arthur’s as well? To watch as he slowly but surely became a part of his boyfriend’s life because yes, he was greedy, and it put a warm feeling in his fingers and toes that he found himself craving. Alfred loved family.

And the thought of what happened tonight hurt, but not as much as the thought of leaving. “No.” was what Alfred said in response.

Outstretched arms, an action to which Arthur came cocooning right into Alfred’s chest.

“God, your brothers hate me.”

“They’ll come to love your bumbling self like I do.”

Alfred let Arthur burrow into his shirt, wrapping his arms around his smaller boyfriend’s frame as he buried his nose into that shampoo-scented, straw-blond hair.

A small shift in position to steal a kiss from Alfred’s lips. “Well… not quite like I do.”


End file.
